“All human creatures are divided into two groups. There are pirates, and there are farmers. Farmers build fences and control territory. Pirates tear down fences and cross borders.”

― Dave Hickey

“There are good pirates and bad pirates, good farmers and bad farmers, but there are only pirates and farmers,” Hickey continues in his essay, Pirates & Farmers, expressing how I feel about people in the music business. 

EST Gee, pirate. DJ Don Cannon, farmer. The City Girls, pirates. United Masters, farmers. JAY-Z, a pirate disguised as a farmer. Roles do reverse. No one is above changing. 

Record labels and executives are farmers by nature. The industry was built by them beneath territories they control. In contrast, the pirates desire sovereignty. At times from the farmers. 

Frank Ocean spent seven years unwrapping the contractual bind Def Jam Records had over him. He called it a “chess match,” I called it a heist. The victory earned him his freedom and the autonomy to release a polarizing album, blond, independently. 

I started writing this because piracy feels rampant in a city like Atlanta, home to every kind of hustler. It makes sense that trap music is a notable export there, all the songs coming out of Atlanta sound like pirate ballads. 

Future is the pirate ballad king. He made dirty money music glamorous. Becoming the voice of get money mantras and sensual self-indulgence. Flooding the streets with song after song about drugs, weapons, women, and money, all in abundance.

“Ice overload, this ain't regular ice

Hop on a private, ain't regular flights

Smash on your hoe, this is everyday life” 

― Nayvadius, a true pirate 

Seventy-five percent of Atlanta’s population is made up of pirates. 21 Savage, pirate. Lil Baby, pirate. Young Thug, pirate. Kenny Mason, pirate. JID, pirate. 

Even the transplants: Lil Durk, pirate. Lil Uzi Vert, pirate. Gucci Mane, pirate.

Gucci may go down as king of the pirates. He birthed an entire pirate age through influence alone. It’s as he said, “Lil kids want to be like Gucci when they grow up.” And they grew up to be, you guessed it, pirates. 

Atlanta is also a city that believes in getting to the gold. You see it everywhere. Varying degrees of wealth on each corner. Homelessness and Hellcats intermingle as the only two options: All or nothing. 

Once you see the all, it’s impossible not to want more for yourself. Some pirates work for it, some pirates take it. Knowing where to find gold is both a risk and a reward. 

by Yoh